HardOCP PC Hound Test

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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May 18, 1997
Messages
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As many of you know we have been working on PC Hound for a good time now. Tell me how you like this implementation of it.

Click on the big BLUE PCHOUND box on the right margin.

http://www.hardocp.com/index-test.php

vB Code is available to post our builds as well that link back to the PC Hound [H] system builder.

[H]ard|OCP System Builder Part List - ASUS Intel Desktop

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 ($186.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS Z97-E/USB3.1 ($128.99 @ B&H)
Memory: CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) Vengeance LP ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: ASUS GeForce GTX 750 GTX750-PHOC-1GD5 ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: CORSAIR 430W CXM series CX430M ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: SAMSUNG 500GB 850 EVO MZ-75E500B/AM ($177.99 @ B&H)
Storage #2: Western Digital 3TB WD Green WD30EZRX ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 200R ($49.99 @ TigerDirect)
CPU Cooler: CORSAIR Hydro Series H50 CW-9060006-WW ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $872.89
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound
 
I'm liking the pop-up implementation on the site, especially since it's clean without a lot of ad clutter (well no more than what is on the site already)...just my .02
 
A few things I observe and scratch my head about just building a random enthusiast system.

1) What is the default sorting? I ask because I honestly couldn't tell. For example I get to selecting a GPU card. The "Rank #1" card is an R9 290 which is a last generation card....the next card is an Nvidia GTX 980 which is a current gen card....wasn't ranked by price, or name, or performance as far as I could tell...it just seemed random.

2) Similar thing. Power Supplies. Is this builder supposed to get me a PSU based on my needs or jusr randomly rank them? For example I spec'd an LGA2011v3 mATX system with the R9 290X from above...I get PSUs rated from anywhere between 600W and 1000W without much apparent rhyme or reason readily apparent. It does seem to calculate the minimum PSU needed for the config reasonably, which is the important thing.

3) Searching for cases. I search for "matx" to narrow down the field....only 2 out of the first 12 hits are actual MATX format cases, 4 are ATX mid-towers, 2 are ATX full towers, and 4 are 2U or 1U server blades....and the sort of those results is a mish-mash. One of those server blades came up because "MATX" was in the part SKU I think

Someone above said "feels clunky"...I'd sooner say it feels minimal. Lots of these builder site pages have fancy zoom in/out animation bits....this one does what it needs. I do love the hover-over popups on pricing telling about Prime and what not.
 
What's wrong with NCIX US? I see that it's one of your merchant options and you can still select it, but you can't buy there because the site isn't working. Is it down temporarily, or has it been shut down?
 
Skripka said:
A few things I observe and scratch my head about just building a random enthusiast system.

1) What is the default sorting? I ask because I honestly couldn't tell. For example I get to selecting a GPU card. The "Rank #1" card is an R9 290 which is a last generation card....the next card is an Nvidia GTX 980 which is a current gen card....wasn't ranked by price, or name, or performance as far as I could tell...it just seemed random.

2) Similar thing. Power Supplies. Is this builder supposed to get me a PSU based on my needs or jusr randomly rank them? For example I spec'd an LGA2011v3 mATX system with the R9 290X from above...I get PSUs rated from anywhere between 600W and 1000W without much apparent rhyme or reason readily apparent. It does seem to calculate the minimum PSU needed for the config reasonably, which is the important thing.

3) Searching for cases. I search for "matx" to narrow down the field....only 2 out of the first 12 hits are actual MATX format cases, 4 are ATX mid-towers, 2 are ATX full towers, and 4 are 2U or 1U server blades....and the sort of those results is a mish-mash. One of those server blades came up because "MATX" was in the part SKU I think

Someone above said "feels clunky"...I'd sooner say it feels minimal. Lots of these builder site pages have fancy zoom in/out animation bits....this one does what it needs. I do love the hover-over popups on pricing telling about Prime and what not.
Click to expand...

1. If you click on the question mark by the Rank sorting it will tell you. However, here is a quick breakdown. Hover Hound is an extension we developed a couple years ago, it is for comparison shopping at Newegg. We collect click data from the previous 7 days as to what product is most popular with 50K Hover Hound users. We are also adding a customer rating selection next to there as well.

2. Ranked by Hover Hound, then has to meet estimated power usage level or higher.

3. Sort of hit or miss on this as to how we can filter these as many manufacturers are adding micro-ATX compatibility into their larger cases.

Thanks for the feedback, I hope I answered your questions.
 
JJ Johnson said:
What's wrong with NCIX US? I see that it's one of your merchant options and you can still select it, but you can't buy there because the site isn't working. Is it down temporarily, or has it been shut down?
Click to expand...

That is all on NCIX. Working fine for me right now.
 
I kinda like it. I calculated the PSU draw and realized I chose a weak PSU for my needs. I like the "Other" button. I just clicked on what I needed instead of having to follow a particular order.

So other than what was already posted, I liked it.
 
I would not say clunky. I think it is awesome.

It is helping me decide whether to buy a computer case online or buy it local.

Thanks!
 
I like it and I want to use it over pcpartpicker, because I love [H] and want to support you guys over the competition, however there are still some things holding me back from ditching pcpartpicker for it.

Compatibility filter isn't as robust yet when it comes to GPU length and case selection. For instance if I select a CoolerMaster Elite 110, which has a 210mm GPU length, and then check for GPU's, even with compatibility filter on it still returns GPU's that are too big. Pcpartpicker's filter properly filters out GPU's that are too big. Pcpartpicker also handily has a GPU length slider when just browsing GPU's.

The CPU cooler selection also didn't seem properly filtered; I was getting a list populated with 240mm radiators, but the 110 can accommodate a 120mm radiator. CPU air coolers >76mm also did not seem to be eliminated. In my test, Pcpartpicker returned a few incompatible choices but seemed by and large to do a good job filtering out large coolers (it totally eliminated 240mm radiators, but returned some 140mm radiators. It properly filtered out aircoolers that were too big.)

Same problem with PSU's. I was able to browse PSU's over 180mm with the compatibility filter checked (just set the filter to >1000w to see if I would get a list of the behemoths.) Pcpartpicker similarly had some difficulty returning PSU's that were too big but again it did not seem to populate with as many incompatible choices for some reason.

The "hound-o-matic" feature is pretty cool on the main site. In the button on the [H] site though it seems limited to ASUS builds for some reason.

I don't find it clunky at all. I think the main PC Hound site is very clean and smooth. I have a big monitor though (my TV at 1080p) and for some reason the windows seem fairly small.
 
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